What the Papers Say, April 23, 2012

BBC Monitoring

Apr. 23 2013 00:00

Last edited 09:29

MT

Kommersant

1. Andrei Kolesnikov article headlined "Margin shot" says that a government meeting chaired by President Vladimir Putin in Sochi has decided to combat Russia's economic problems by reducing the spending of the state corporations and the income of banks; pp 1, 8 (1,672 words).

3. Yegor Popov article headlined "Vans to be loaded with duties" says a number of car manufacturers from Germany and Italy importing their vehicles into Russia are facing a hike in duties from 10 percent to 40 percent. The move is likely to force foreign car makers to set up assembly plants in Russia; pp 1, 11 (913 words).

4. Alexandra Bayazitova and Vitaly Gaydayev article headlined "Merger disrupted" says that the financial corporation Otkritie has given up plans to set up Russia's largest commercial bank by merging the bank Otkritie with Nomos-bank and the Khanty-Mansiisk bank; pp 1, 10 (596 words).

5. Ivan Sarfonov article headlined "Billions not allowed to land" says 15 percent of the Russian state defense order for 2013 concerning the aviation has got stuck as the Defense Ministry has failed to sign relevant contracts with the United Aircraft Building Corporation on time; p 2 (606 words).

6. Article attributed to the paper's political section headlined "Communist may prove useful to United Russia" says United Russia has not decided yet how to hold primaries in Volgograd Region ahead of governor elections there. Former governor Communist Nikolai Vinogradov is said to have been offered a seat in the Federation Council in exchange for his support to the ruling party's candidate; p 2 (666 words).

8. Maxim Ivanov article headlined "Ties being attached to officials' assets and accounts" comments on presidential press secretary Dmitry Peskov's statement in which he has called for "nationalization of whole society" and demanded that officials own no housing abroad; p 3 (608 words).

9. Vladislav Trifonov and Aleksey Sokovnin article headlined "DHL linked to William Browder case" says Moscow's Tverskoi Court has issued an arrest warrant for British businessman William Browder. British authorities have refused to cooperate with Russian law-enforcement agencies in the case; p 4 (447 words).

10. Grigory Tumanov and Aleksandr Chernykh article headlined "Opposition stretches time" says the opposition wants to mark the first anniversary of the May 6 rally and has got divided over the day to organize the event; p 5 (562 words).

11. Yelena Chernenko article headlined "Barack Obama not taken on trust" says Moscow does not accept personal guarantees of U.S. President Barack Obama that the U.S. missile defense system will not threaten Russia and wants to have guarantees that do not depend on the political situation in the U.S.A.; p 7 (712 words).

12. Maria Yefimova article headlined "Russia and Europe to rest from each other" says Russia will not become a separate topic of discussion at the PACE session opening in Strasbourg; p 7 (603 words).

13. Article by Alexei Kudrin in the column "Rules of Game" speaking about the need for predictability in Russia's policy; p 8 (600 words).
Nezavisimaya Gazeta

2. Vladislav Maltsev article headlined "Being religious does not guarantee innocence" says Tamerlan Tsarnayev is being suspected of another killing in the U.S.A. Russian Muslim leaders have not condemned the Boston blasts; pp 1-2 (693 words).

3. Darya Tsilyurik article headlined "U.S.A. drags Russia into new military race" says the U.S.A. is going to upgrade its tactical nuclear weapons deployed in Europe. The move is seen as pressure on Moscow unwilling to hold talks on the weapons of this type; pp 1, 7 (1,109 words).

5. Tatyana Ivzhenko article headlined "Warsaw may declare Stepan Bandera criminal" says different views on the role of Stepan Bandera in World War II may make the Ukrainian-Polish relations more complicated; pp 1, 6 (1,063 words).

6. Svetlana Gamova article headlined "Moldova recognizes Transdnester republic as foreign country" says Moldova has passed a law which does not allow Dniester region residents to take part in the country's elections and de facto made them foreigners; pp 1, 6 (602 words).

7. Oksana Skripnikova article headlined "TV Centre in multiplex" speaks on the importance of adding TV Centre to the first digital package of TV channels to be broadcast in Russia; p 2 (468 words).

9. Alexei Gorbachev article headlined "Police and authorities suspected" says a public hearing of the 6 May unrest in Moscow has come to the conclusion that the police instructed by the authorities have triggered violence in Moscow; p 3 (521 words).

10. Ivan Rodin report "Fight against agents" says that veteran NGOs will become socially-oriented and will be able to hope for state subsidies; p 3 (450 words).

11. Sergei Kulikov article headlined "Kremlin starts dealing with flats in Bulgaria" says that judging by signals from the Kremlin, the authorities want officials to get rid of their foreign housing altogether, although this demand was not included into the new anti-corruption law; p 4 (579 words).

12. Yury Paniyev article headlined "Strike at Iran closer and more realistic" says the U.S.A. is selling arms to Israel, Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates, which could be used for a strike on Iran; p 7 (674 words).

1. Olga Kuvshinova article headlined "How to speed up Russia" says that a government meeting chaired by Putin has decided to issue infrastructure bonds and carry out budget maneuvers to support the Russian economy; pp 1, 4 (819 words).

2. Dmitry Kazmin article headlined "Navalny is late" says the Russian Supreme Arbitration Court has put a full stop in Aleksey Navalny's complaints against Rosneft. The court allowed the oil giant not to provide the minority shareholder with the documents he required; pp 1, 4 (431 words).

3. Editorial headlined "Last business" says the number of small businesses in Russia is falling, which affects prices and quality of goods and services in the country; pp 1, 6 (396 words).

5. Irina Novikova report "Experts give violence plan" says that experts have suggested that the scheme of making blacklists of websites should be changed; p 3 (700 words).

6. Another editorial headlined "Quiet dissatisfaction" comments on a recent sociological study showing that many young city dwellers trust neither the authorities nor the current opposition; p 6 (332 words).

2. Yulia Tsoy and Anastasia Mitkevich article headlined "State Duma parties to gain advantage in 2017 elections" says the Russian presidential administration wants to make amendments to the State Duma ballot papers to list the parties having their members in the parliament first, and then the rest of the political forces taking part in the voting; pp 1, 3 (471 words).

3. German Petelin and Vladimir Barinov article headlined "Federal Prison Service money leaves to Switzerland and Hong Kong" says the investigation has found out that millions of the budget funding allocated for purchase of electronic bracelets for Russian prisoners have been stolen and transferred from Russia to Switzerland and Hong Kong; pp 1, 4 (786 words).

4. Alexander Grigoryev article headlined "Criminal proceedings initiated against Kommersant editor-in-chief" says a criminal case has been opened against Kommersant editor-in-chief Mikhail Mikhaylin who has been charged with beating up his former mother-in-law; p 3 (674 words).

5. Alena Sivkova report "Young people living in mountains and Cossacks to be reconciled with each other at forum near Stavropol" says that young people from Russia's southern regions will take part in a summer camp to discuss ethnic issues; p 3 (750 words).

6. Aleksey Mikhailov report "Landing troops transferred to computer command" says that a contract to deliver special computer systems to the landing troops may be signed until the end of 2013; p 5 (1,000 words).

7. Yury Matsarsky article headlined "They are not terrorists, but failed Americans for us" reports on a collective prayer of Boston residents for the victims of the recent blasts and the young men who are suspected of organizing them; p 7 (874 words).

6. Igor Yavlyansky article headlined "It is profitable for Obama to present Tsarnayevs as persons acting on their own" says the U.S. authorities are to stick to the theory that only two brothers have been the organizers of the Boston blasts; p 7 (486 words).

Rossiiskaya Gazeta

1. Vladislav Kulikov article headlined "It does not jingle" says that a new bill will allow courts of general jurisdiction to hear individual bankruptcy cases; pp 1, 3 (796 words).

2. Kira Latukhina report "Risks and reserves" looks at a government meeting chaired by Putin dedicated to the economic situation in the country; pp 1-2 (1,300 words).

4. Leonid Radzikhovsky article headlined "Anniversary" comments on the Forbes magazine's tradition to publish lists of richest businessmen and reviews changes in the Russian part of the list in the last 10 years; p 3 (871 words).

1. Marina Ozerova article headlined "Lesson for minister" comments on the decision of the opposition factions in the State Duma to demand dismissal of Education Minister Dmitriy Livanov; pp 1-2 (736 words).

2. Nikita Kartsev report "Matt Damon went to same school as Dzhokhar Tsarnayev" looks at the man suspected of carrying out the Boston marathon bomb attacks; pp 1-3 (600 words).

3. Natalya Rozhkova article headlined "Lebedev's trial closed for press" reports on the beginning of the court hearing of the case of Konstantin Lebedev, accused of organizing mass disorders on May 6 2012 in Bolotnaya Ploshchad in Moscow; p 2 (702 words).

3. Melor Sturua article headlined "One day and six months in the life of Tamerlan Tsarnayev" reports on the probe into the Boston blasts and tries to see the motives which could have made Tamerlan Tsarnayev organize the explosions; p 3 (1,734 words).

4. Matvei Ganapolsky article headlined "To catch up with Portugal" recalls President Putin's slogan "To catch up with Portugal" and notes that Russia will be unable to do that without personal freedoms and the law equal to everyone; p 3 (1,236 words).

1. Aleksandr Litoi article headlined "Return of dissidents" says the opposition has filed a request to hold a rally in Moscow on 6 May, stating they are ready to stage a protest against repression and social problems; pp 1-2 (600 words).

2. Inga Vorobyeva article headlined "Putin goes all in" comments on the results of the meeting on economy with ministers and experts held by Vladimir Putin in Sochi; pp 1, 3 (500 words).

2. Vera Moslakova article headlined "New May Day meeting" focuses on plans of the Russian opposition to hold a rally on May 6 in Moscow, marking the anniversary of the rally in Bolotnaya Ploshchad in 2012; p 2 (900 words).

1. Aleksandr Protsenko article headlined "Ideas run in circle" comments on the meeting on Russia's economic development held by Vladimir Putin in Sochi and says the Russian authorities recognize the need for changes in the country's economic system; pp 1, 3 (800 words).
Komsomolskaya Pravda

1. Dmitry Smirnov article headlined "President allows to take swipe at Kudrin" comments on Putin's meeting on economy with ministers and experts in Sochi on April 22; p 2 (600 words).

3. Alexander Khodyakin article headlined "Europe scared by 'friendly' Chechens" says after the Boston terror attack, the EU countries have become more concerned about the Chechen political refugees living in Europe; p 5 (200 words).

No normalization of ties between Ukraine and Russia is likely unless the region of Crimea, now under Russian control, is returned to Kiev's sovereignty, Ukrainian Foreign Minister Pavlo Klimkin said Tuesday.

Boris Nemtsov, an outspoken critic of President Vladimir Putin and Russia's role in the Ukraine crisis, has been shot dead outside the Kremlin in a murder that underscored the risks taken by the Russian opposition.

The murder of Kremlin critic Boris Nemtsov has dampened any hope for a peaceful political transition in Russia away from President Vladimir Putin's government, Garry Kasparov, a prominent opposition voice, has said.

A spokesperson for Moscow's information technology department has denied media reports that some of the surveillance cameras around the Kremlin had been switched off at the time of Boris Nemtsov's murder.

The U.S. State Department and FBI have announced a $3 million reward for information leading to the arrest or conviction of Russian Yevgeny Bogachev, the highest bounty U.S. authorities have ever offered in a cyber case.